Tag Archives: sandwich

Today I did something I’ve never done before. I went in to a supermarket and bought a meal deal – chicken wrap, crisps + water, and gave it to this person.

But how many times do you walk past someone like this. I know I do all the time, but today was different and I really felt like I wanted to do something helpful. We all have times when life is cruel and hard on us. Many times some people are so wrapped up in their own lives that we forget that others are suffering too.

Often people ask ‘Can you spare some change, love?’ or words to that effect, and many just walk on by, wrapped up their own lives and not giving a thought about someone just fighting to survive the day.

I made the decision to get the food for this person, and went into the supermarket and got a meal deal just for her. I came back out, went up and handed it to her, saying “I think you look like you need this more than me” and she thanked me and off I walked.

It was a small gesture, I could tell she’d had a tough time since she was clearly not new to the streets, her skin looked grubby, her teeth in a sorry state, and I wondered just how does someone cope in a real homeless situation. Her head hung in her arms, I could tell she probably felt beaten by the world – the world can be a cruel place.

I also thought that in the past I have walked past homeless people thinking why don’t they just get a job and sort themselves out, but its easy to say or think those thoughts, but I bet her reality doesn’t make such a thing as easy as that sounds.

She had a cup in front of her, hoping people would give her money. I am skeptical of that because the common view of a lot of people is that it might just go on a bottle of whisky or drugs. But by giving her food and water today, I know that that will help her to at least not be hungry.

The line in ‘Parklife’ by Blur suddenly came to me after having given her food which is:

‘I feed the pigeons, I sometimes feed the sparrows too It gives me a sense of enormous well-being And then I’m happy for the rest of the day safe in the knowledge there will always be a bit of my heart devoted to it’

Now obviously she’s no pigeon or Sparrow, but by helping another fellow person I felt I was just doing something human. A little bit of kindness goes along way, and I encourage others to think twice about walking by, and maybe give someone a helping hand.

Life is very tough for some people, and I believe that we are all able to do things in our lives to improve our own lives. Sometimes though, a helping hand is required, maybe to restore our belief in ourselves, maybe just to say everything is going to be alright, maybe just to show someone that there is a place for us all in this world.

Whoever you are, whatever you do, I do believe that you should never give up! Life finds a way, but sometimes an extra helping hand does help…